Spanish trilogy

The brass quintet scene is inundated with new arrangements of popular songs and classical highlights, but if you are looking for new original literature for this instrumentation, you have to dig a little deeper - and once again you will find it with Editions Bim. Spanish Dances was awarded first prize by the select jury of the International Trumpet Guild ITG; Stanley Friedman has once again proven that he can not only play the trumpet, but is also a remarkable composer.

The work is divided into three movements, which are strongly reminiscent of the Spanish coloring in Bizet's Carmen remind us. Right at the beginning of the first movement, the Habanera, the famous accompanying motif can be heard in the tuba, the first trumpet slips into the solo role of Carmen and has its own thoughts about love, repeatedly interrupted by isorhythmic passages in the five brass instruments. The Pavane, the second movement, captivates with its variation form and a continuous accelerando. The concluding Bolero plays with the themes of the first two movements in 7/8 time and brings the Spanish triology to a brilliant and virtuoso conclusion.

Stanley Friedman, Spanish Dances for Brass Quintet, score and parts, ENS 174, Fr. 45.00, Editions Bim, Vuarmarens 2012